Category Archives: North Carolina

Brian Adornetto Chef Ashley Christensen’s refined, ingredient-driven version of humble comfort food has made her a long-time favorite in the Triangle area (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) of North Carolina. Over the past few years though, the Kernersville, North Carolina native has received national attention with appearances on the Food Network and MSNBC and features in Bon Appétit … Continue reading →

Have you ever heard of alma paprika peppers? I had not heard of them either until a few months ago when I was visiting Ayrshire Farm in Pittsboro, North Carolina. I was working as an oral historian for the Southern Foodways Alliance on a project about the Carrboro Farmers’ Market. For this project, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Dow, an organic farmer and activist who owns a 22-acre organic farm just 40 minutes outside of downtown Chapel Hill. Ayrshire Farm was the first certified organic farm in North Carolina, and Bill has been a proponent of alternative growing methods for over 30 years. Continue reading →

Upon arrival at Ella’s, a hand written sign declaring oyster roasts were in season greeted us. For Thanksgiving week this year, Melinda and I decided to head for the Carolina beaches to relive our youth. For lunch the first day we headed for Ella’s of Calabash, North Carolina, founded over sixty years ago and just across the border from South Carolina. When Ella’s was already twenty years old, I ate there with college friends. Going to “the beach”, where one danced the shag to beach music, drank beer, cruised up and down Ocean Boulevard, and met members of the opposite sex, was a rite of passage back then. Though Ella’s is now under third generation ownership, not much has changed. Continue reading →